Carl W. Kenney II is an award winning columnist and novelist. He is committed to engaging readers into a meaningful discussion related to matters that impact faith and society. He grapples with pondering the impact faith has on public space while seeking to understand how public space both hinders and enhances the walk of faith.

Saturday, November 16, 2013

Charles Barkley defends using the N-Word

Note: I use Nigger versus N-word to add emphasis to problems related to saying the word

Charles Barkley says he will continue to say
Nigger.He defended Matt Barnes for calling
teammates Nigger in a tweet following a scuffle with Serge Ibaka. Barnes was upset after being ejected for “standing
up for these Niggers.”

“’I’m a black man,” Barkley said during the pregame
show on TNT. “I use the N-word. I will continue to use the N-word among my
black friends and my white friends.”

Barnes called his LA Clipper teammates Nigger weeks
after Ritchie Incognito was exposed for leaving a Nigger laced voice message confronting
Jonathan Martin.Incognito was suspended
by the Miami Dolphins for calling Martin a half-Nigger, and threatening to
punch him and his mother.

Martin left the team to pursue therapy, and claims
being bullied by Incognito and other members of the team.Teammates are standing behind Incognito, declaring
him an honorary Nigger.

Jason Whitlock, columnist for ESPN.com, blasted those teammates
for nurturing a culture in common with prison nation.Whitlock chastised black men for questioning
the manhood of a black man with a Stanford degree and Harvard educated parents,
while affirming the thug ways of a white man designated to help toughen up the “half-Nigger.”

That’s yesterday’s news.Barnes refused to apologize for writing
Nigger.He says it’s commonly used
during games and in the locker room.Barnes says he will continue to use it, and there’s nothing that can be
said to change his mind.

ESPN's Michael Wilbon quickly defended Barnes.

"People can be upset with me if they want,"
he said on "Pardon the Interruption." "I, like a whole lot of
people, use the N-word all day every day my whole life. ... I have a problem
with white people framing the discussion for the use of the N-word."

Barkley’s comments echoed Wilbon’s.“What I do with my black friends is not up to
white America to dictate to me,” Barkley said.

Whitlock took issue with Barkley’s defense of Banes. He
called for a ban of Nigger in the NBA and NFL.

“The N-word is a not a generational issue. The N-word
was never a fad. It was a primary tool in the enslavement, disenfranchisement
and cultural destruction of a race of people,” Whitlock states.

Whitlock’s call to ban Nigger was followed by a
personal confession.

“I still use the N-word privately. I'm not proud of
this fact. I would never defend my use of the word. I use it far less than I
did a decade ago,” Whitlock writes. “I've been battling for years to eliminate
it from my vocabulary.”

Barkley, Wilbon and Whitlock all admit using the
word.The only difference is with
Whitlock’s desire to dismiss the word from his vocabulary.Given Whitlock still uses the word, why does
he use it, what will it take to keep him from using it, and should white
Commissioners be empowered to force black men to stop using the word?

As distasteful as the word is for most of us, isn’t
that type of enforcement rooted in a position of privilege that denies black
men the right to establish and affirm their own terms of communication?

Nigger is a complex word.Who says it and why it is used adds to the
violence associated with the word.If
Barnes, Barkley, Wilbon and Whitlock can use it, why can’t Paula Deen.If black men in the locker room can use it,
why can Ritchie Incognito?

The NAACP attempted to end the debate in July of
2007.Thousands gathered in Detroit for
the funeral and burial of Nigger. A horse drawn carriage carried a wood coffin
to the grave. The word “nigga was displayed on a ribbon, and there were black
roses on the coffin.

“Good riddance.
Die, N-word,” Kwame Kilpatrick, then Mayor of Detroit, said. “We don’t want to
see you around here no more.”

Nigger rose from the grave 10 minutes later.It was heard when a car passed by with
windows rolled down with the sound of a Tupac groove.

Black men aren’t ready to put Nigger to rest.They know it’s wrong to summons memories of how
it was used to marginalize their ancestors.They changed it from Nigger to Nigga for a reason. It doesn’t feel the
same when the meaning behind the word has changed. In their minds, Nigga isn’t
Nigger when a black man uses the word.

Nigga may not carry the same force as Nigger, but when
a white person uses Nigga it all means the same.

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Carl W. Kenney II

Carl was named the best serious columnist of 2011 by the North Carolina Press Association for his work with the News & Observer's community paper The Durham News and in 2016 by the Missouri Press Association for his columns in the Columbia Missourian. He is a columnist with the News & Observer and Co-Executive Producer of "God of the Oppressed" an upcoming documentary film on black liberation theology. He is a former Adjunct Professor at the University of Missouri - School of Journalism and Adjunct Instructor at Duke University, the Center for Documentary Studies. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia. He furthered his education at Duke University and attained a Master of Divinity. He was named a Fellow in Pastoral Leadership Development at the Princeton Theological Seminary on May 14, 2005. He is a freelance writer with his commentary appearing in The Washington Post, Religious News Services,The Independent Weekly and The Durham Herald-Sun. Carl is the author of two novels: “Preacha’ Man” and the sequel “Backslide”.
He has led congregations in Missouri and North Carolina